The Moon Don't Shine
by ihaveaslighttvaddiction
Summary: When the baby is born, they name her Beth. Of course they do.


**Hello, this is what happens when you are stuck on chapter 6 of your multi-chapter fic and you think about Maggie naming her possible future baby Beth before class one morning and you tell your friend and cry. Hope you like it! Any errors are to blame on the fact that it is midnight and I am half awake. Obviously do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters (obviously I would never associate myself with "Coda")**

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When the baby is born they name her Beth, of course they do. It's a bittersweet moment that warms and tears at Daryl's heart at the same time. Maggie's tear filled smile moves from the helpless newborn in her arms to the gruff quiet man, trying to read his emotions. He gives her a small close lipped smile, the pain always lingering in his eyes. She and Daryl stood on the same ground, they both felt the floor being ripped from beneath them when she was taken away from them, and they became closer friends because of it. She was the glue that stuck them together even after she was gone.  
"Would you like to hold her?"

Daryl looks at her with no answer for a while but his hand reaches down and touches her blade on his belt. Maggie follows his movement and she looks at him before nodding her head at little Beth and reaching her arms out a bit. Daryl slowly but surely takes the baby into his arms. Cradling her he takes in the look of someone so innocent and pure and when she yawns he knows that he'd do anything to make sure no harm ever came to her.

He can't help but feel he had failed Beth, that it was his fault she never got to be here, to see some of her wishes come true. She'd never get to hold her niece, sing to her, she'd never get to do a lot of things. He sure as hell didn't deserve this moment as much as her, but he would make it up to her. He would make sure this little girl knew exactly who her aunt was, a strong, beautiful woman who never let the darkness of the world hold her back from believing in something more. If little Beth grew up to be half of the girl she was named after, she'd be just fine and he'd make sure that she lived a long life, something Beth never got.

Every day he saw the little girl was one mixed with joy and sadness. She made him feel a little closer to Beth but every similarity they shared tightened the knot inside his heart.

As little Beth grew old enough to almost walk on her own, she'd stumble over to Daryl and plant herself firmly in his lap, humming little tunes as she mindlessly played with his hands, gripping and tugging at his calloused fingers and he pictured Beth in his place, singing along with her and giggling when the little one would replicate the melody of the song. Moments like this pulled him down beneath the surface, the grief filling his lungs. He'd smile at the little girl but the sea filled his eyes till he had to excuse himself, handing the girl to Glenn despite her protests as he stepped outside.

It wasn't her fault that as she grew she reminded him more and more of the one he'd lost. There were many days when the little girl brought a long gone light back in him, but others where he could only see the dark and it was on days like this that he would find himself seated on the ground, leaned up against a tree, picking at the long healed scar on his hand. Every now and then Maggie would find him there and sometimes she would watch silently from a distance and other days she would quietly join him, gazing up at the clear pale sky.

This day was one of the latter. "I still wake up sometimes and forget she's gone" Maggie says after a comfortably long silence has passed. "Sometimes I try to convince myself that she isn't"

Daryl rarely responds to her when she talk to him here, he picks at his calloused palms and chews on the inside of his cheek, holding in emotions he doesn't feel safe sharing.

"She would love this place, and being an aunt" Maggie smiles through the tears and it takes everything in him to keep it together. He takes a tight grip on her blade, carving lines into the dirt.

"I know you loved her" Maggie states and Daryl turns slightly to look at her completely taken back by the sureness in her voice. They must all know by now, he figured he was never that good at masking the way he felt. "I don't know if she felt the same way about you, but I hope she did." This is the comment that surprises him the most. "You're a good man, Daryl and if anyone could see that best it was Beth." He looks down uncomfortably at her words.

He wishes he had more time with her, more candle lit moments in the kitchen, maybe just to hear her sing one more song; to reach for her hand and know she wouldn't let go.

"It's okay to miss her you know, but you gotta let yourself live, it's not your fault." Daryl clenches his jaw and she continues, "Beth would've wanted you to, you know she would."

So he tries to spend more time remembering the happy moments and less time agonizing over the fact that he wouldn't get anymore with her. He goes to his spot by the tree but he talks to Maggie when she joins him and they share moments they had with her and his scar aches a little less. His nightmares slowly turn into sweet dreams where she sings to him and he wakes with her song in his mind. Little Beth grows and his heart warms just a little more and though the hole never closes up the sun shines through it and it almost feels whole.

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 **I kinda hope this made you cry a little. please Review and let me know what you think, support is always appreciated and thank you to those who always write reviews, you guys are awesome.**


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